Half Hearted Hero is a band, but we’re also more than a band. We take strategy-based board games, abstract strategy games, and tabletop war games as seriously as we take our music. Practice for us means not only rehearsing our songs and playing well together, but also developing the most efficient techniques to win.

This influence is felt not only within the band, but among those with whom we associate directly, for those who game with us often are considered auxiliary members of the band.That being said, the influence for our new EP Running Water is not strictly musical.

Many of the lyrical themes deal with the frustration that comes from developing fail-safe strategies, only to have seen them fall short of those of our contemporaries in these great games. The artwork was directly inspired by the fields and forests of the great Island of Catan, a place which is held dearly in our hearts and which we love playing more than anywhere we've visited on tour.

The music we make is derived from the rhythm of the turn cycle, the hum of shuffled cards, the silence between the dice rolls. Pop/punk should not be limited to skateboards, pizza and cassette tapes, though those things we love.

Please hear our EP on a different level if you can. We put a lot into Running Water, and having now released it for the world and internet to hear, we want it to be an invitation to you, our fellow gamer, to join us.

Running Water out now on Animal Style Records!http://animalstyle.storenvy.com/